Kyrgyzstan is also working on other railways. Construction takes place in the area around the large Issyk-Kul lake. The country could connect this railway, which also links up to the capital city Bishkek and neighbouring Kazakhstan, to the CKU line.

“In the future, under favourable conditions, it is planned to extend it to Kara-Keche, and then also to Makmal, guaranteeing an additional rail connection between the north and south”, said Zhaparov. Makmal will be a key location on the CKU line, since China’s standard 1,435-millimetre gauge and the 1,520-millimetre gauge will meet there. Kyrgyzstan has already finished part of the railway to Kara-Keche.

The railway will have significant benefits to Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. Both countries are landlocked and stand to profit from diversified trade routes. There are concerns, however, about the railway’s financial costs and benefits. Particularly Kyrgyzstan will need to take on significant debts. Meanwhile, the railway is expected to have limited capacity in the mountainous terrain.

Rhenus Logistics says that it will share its expertise on multimodal logistics, terminal development and rail freight. That includes consulting and analytical work, as well as the exchange of know-how and employee training.

“With this Memorandum, we are taking another decisive step in our mission along the Trans-Caspian Corridor”, explains Heinrich Kerstgens, Director of Board Projects at Rhenus Group. “As a family-owned company with a long-term vision and international footprint, we believe in strong partnerships and early investment in regions that are redefining their role in global logistics. Together with the national railway, we are committed to supporting the development of future-oriented logistics infrastructure in Kyrgyzstan and contributing to a more connected and resilient logistics landscape in Central Asia”, Kerstgens concludes.

China – Kyrgyzstan – Uzbekistan

Rhenus Logistics points to the CKU line, which will connect China and Uzbekistan through Kyrgyzstan, as a key ongoing infrastructure project. It will connect Kyrgyzstan to the Middle Corridor and reduce the distance between China and Europe by several hundred kilometres compared to existing routes through Kazakhstan, Rhenus explains.

“Beyond improving connectivity, the project also opens new opportunities for cooperation in rail logistics and infrastructure development – areas where Rhenus can actively contribute its expertise to support the region’s integration into global trade networks.”

Chinese media point out that trade between the Hubei province and Central Asian countries has been growing in recent years. It launched the first freight service to Kazakhstan in 2021. By April 2025, freight trains became part of regular routes, with more than 440 TEU transported monthly.

Meanwhile, the older departure station in Wuhan sent its first train on the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan route. Currently, construction work is ongoing for a railway line from China to Uzbekistan through Kyrgyzstan, so part of the route will have to be done by truck for now.

Bedel was mentioned earlier as a justification for the Transeurasia line. It is a mountain pass on the border between China and Kyrgyzstan. The two countries plan to open a road border crossing there, but it seems that rail may join the future road through the Bedel pass.

Were all these plans come to fruition, Kyrgyzstan could become a much bigger player on the Central Asian rail scene than it is now. There are, however, questions about what these railways can really accomplish. For one, they are bound to be expensive: Kyrgyzstan is a very mountainous country, which raises construction costs and limits throughput capacity with higher traction requirements.

Happy Kyrgyz

At the same time, neighbouring Kazakhstan has an established railway network in a much more forgiving landscape. Kyrgyz rail is unlikely to be competitive for China – Europe traffic at the very least. On the other hand, Kyrgyzstan is enthusiastic despite the high costs. The landlocked country hopes to achieve better connectivity with the outside world, which could boost its trade.

The new rail plans were revealed in the Kyrgyz government’s 2030 national development programme. Kyrgyzstan plans to build a railway between Batken, a minor city in the country’s south, to Kokand, a relatively large city in Uzbekistan’s densely populated Ferghana valley.

According to the government programme, the railway should help improve transport infrastructure, trade and job creation. Even though Kyrgyzstan provides no official such explanation, it seems likely that the country hopes to boost agricultural exports from the peripheral Batken region.

The town is located on the very southern edge of the fertile Ferghana valley. That valley mostly belongs to Uzbekistan. Kokand, located in said valley, is a major logistics node in Uzbekistan. Various railways and roads come together in the city – allowing for freight to be transported in multiple directions.

In connection with rail, the name of Makmal first surfaced in CKU line plans. Planners chose the place as the location of a gauge transfer hub. On the way from China to Uzbekistan, trains need to switch from China’s standard gauge rail infrastructure to Central Asia’s broad gauge.

It seems highly probable that the choice for the transfer hub befell Makmal with gold exports in mind. In that way, it would secure extra demand for transport on the rather expensive rail line. It will reportedly cost around 4,7 billion dollars. The payback time of the rail has subquently been a point of discussion. It will likely take decades because Kyrgyzstan earns the investment back.

Transeurasian line

Makmal will now also be the starting point for another expensive cross-country rail line, albeit in the other direction of the country. The so-called Transeurasian line will extend all the way to Karakol. That town is located beyond the Issyk-Kul lake and close to the Chinese border. The All American Rail Group, an American rail consortium, will fund the three billion dollar investment. After 35 years, it will hand over the line to the Kyrgyz state.

“Passenger and freight transport, logistics, is being considered. Because a new [border] post with China, ‘Bedel’, is being opened, in this direction there will be a boost of the economy. The rail line itself was built in the Soviet Union until the city of Balykchi, now we will be extending it to Karakol, which is around 200 kilometres”, a Kyrgyz investment official said.

For Kyrgyzstan, the project is one of high economic importance. It is landlocked in the mountains of Central Asia, and is not connected to any major international transportation corridors. An international rail connection to China and Uzbekistan could provide more opportunities for trade, stresses the country’s president. “This route will ensure supply of goods from China to Kyrgyzstan and then onto Central Asia” and nearby countries “including Turkey” and “even to the European Union”, he said.

Billions of dollars

For that reason, Kyrgyzstan is willing to put a lot of money on the table. It remains a bit unclear how much the approximately 450-kilometre long rail line is going to cost exactly, but most detailed accounts of the project talked about 4,7 billion dollars. Others mentioned figures of up to 8 billion.

Both are rather large sums of money for the countries in the region, save China. In 2022, the Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan predicted that the country would make 200 million dollars from the line on an annual basis, and that the line would pay itself back eventually.

It remains a bit unclear how much the approximately 450-kilometre long rail line is going to cost. Most detailed accounts of the project talk about 4,7 billion dollars, whereas other mention figures up to 8 billion. Both are rather large sums of money for the countries in the region, save China. In 2022, the Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan predicted that the country would make 200 million dollars from the line on an annual basis, and that the line would pay itself back eventually.

Kyrgyzstan willing to pay a lot

Despite that prediction, doubts remain about the profitability of the route. It would have to compete with already existing rail infrastructure in Kazakhstan, which goes through much more forgiving terrain. It is unclear how the CKU line can hope to be more attractive to transit traffic. To pay itself back, it will need to have relatively high track access charges, while its capacity will likely be lower than other lines in the region.

Nevertheless, it is mostly Kyrgyzstan that is willing to pay a high price to be connected up to global infrastructure networks and mitigate its landlocked status. The Kyrgyzstan-based joint venture is taking a 2,33 billion dollar loan from China, which the Central Asian country insists will not have an impact on its already high foreign debt, a sensitive topic in the country.

Consequently, Kazakhstan’s businesses and government are not at all worried about the CKU line, according to Shibutov. “No, they are not scared. Approximately 80 per cent of the route goes through mountains, and you need a huge amount of bridges and tunnels there. Besides, it is a single-track line and goes into mountains, which means a small amount of wagons per train. The volume of freight that you can transport there is not that large”, Shibutov explains. Reportedly, the volume of freight to be carried along the route by 2050 is 13,5 million tonnes.

Sky-high construction costs

The line through Kyrgyzstan will be a single-track railway of approximately 500 kilometres in length through mountainous terrain. It needs 120 kilometres of tunnels and 26 kilometres of bridges, says Shibutov. At the railway’s halfway point, in Makmal, trains will switch from China’s standard gauge to the 1520 mm broad gauge. The construction costs of the line grow immensely due to these factors.

Meanwhile, Kazakhstan has an already developed railway network across primarily flat land. “Our trains go across flatlands, here we don’t have such an amount of bridges and no tunnels at all, slopes neither”, Shibutov says. “We can keep our fees lower, while the southern (Kyrgyz) route needs to pay for its construction costs.”

Ten to twelve billion dollars for CKU line

Those construction costs are a point of contention as well, and presented a major obstacle to an agreement on the line. Ultimately, China agreed to finance approximately half of the route, while Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan will each take on about a quarter of the costs. With China’s part amounting to 2,3 billion dollars, the total projected cost of the line is 4,7 billion dollars.

However, Shibutov disputes this number: “But really, considering construction in the mountains, the cost of the line will be in the range of 10 to 12 billion dollars”, he says. Such high costs will inevitably be reflected in the usage fees, which harm the line’s competitiveness. According to the Kyrgyz president, transit fees will generate 200 million dollars annually for the country. It will take a long time for the line to pay itself off.

Reducing dependence on Kazakhstan?

What, then, exactly is the reason behind the CKU line? Kyrgyz political scientist Nargiza Muratalieva, in an interview with platform LogiStan, claimed that the line could help reduce Kyrgyzstan’s dependence on Kazakhstan in logistical questions. The landlocked country could get better and diversified access to the sea, and the border with Kazakhstan is congested, she says.

Marat Shibutov disagrees. According to him, Kyrgyzstan’s dependence on Kazakhstan remains either way. “The dependence of Kyrgyzstan on Kazakhstan consists of exports to Russia and further west through our territory. Going through Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and further is a lot less convenient for Kyrgyz transporters due to the many border crossings and customs offices.”

What remains is the benefit for local transportation and perhaps attracting additional goods from China to go towards Europe. Could the CKU line grow those volumes? “Not by a lot”, says Shibutov, “and then only after some years after the line’s completion. I do not think that the line will be very popular on long distances. Rather, it will service Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan exclusively. Even if there is going to be more freight, it will likely not be considered and the volumes will statistically not be large.”

As it appears, Kyrgyzstan is unable to financially deliver its part at the moment, and as a result, it will need to rely on Chinese loans. In a question by the parliamentary committee for transport targeting the source of funds, Azamat Sakiyev, the general director of Kyrgyz Temir Jolu NC, replied that “the Kyrgyz Republic intends to borrow money from Chinese banks.” With this loan, the total amount of Chinese money flowing into the project will amount to approximately 3 billion US dollars.

The financing hurdle

China, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan agreed to build the CKU railway last week. The tripartite agreement document specifies that construction will begin in October. The agreement comes after the three countries long struggled with funding for the route. The expensive Kyrgyz section, through mountainous terrain, proved to be an obstacle.

As the latest news highlighted, Kyrgyzstan has to fund its own part. However, it has a large national debt and is legally barred from drawing too much money from a single international investor. It can legally borrow up to 45 per cent of its external debt from a single foreign source. The country already owes 42 per cent of its debt to China alone, and it will likely have to borrow from China again, even though it was reluctant to do so.